Democrats on comeback trail in Florida after years of decline

A new party chair promises to restore the party's lost pride and take on Ron DeSantis to turn Florida blue once more

It isn't much fun, or indeed very productive, being a Democrat in Florida these days. Outnumbered by a Republican supermajority in the state legislature, the party was forced to sit back and watch extremist governor Ron DeSantis sign law after law riding roughshod over the rights of Black voters, immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community.

The humiliation in Tallahassee was the culmination of a years-long decline in Democratic fortunes, predating even the ousting of long-serving US senator Bill Nelson in 2018.